No Longer 'Must-See TV'

Television is losing ground in one of its most lucrative strongholds: Thursday nights.

Fewer people in the U.S. are watching Thursday prime-time TV so far this fall, as changing viewing habits, weaker shows and more varied competition take a toll on a night that for decades has showcased some of TV's most high-profile programs, and priciest commercials.

ENLARGE

The CBS program 'CSI: Crime Scene Investigation,' starring Marg Helgenberger, above, is among the Thursday-night television shows whose audiences are down amid changes in consumers' viewing habits.
CBS

Over the first four Thursday nights of the TV season, an average of 48.5 million people between the ages of 18 and 49 years old were watching prime-time on any channel, broadcast or cable, recorded or live, according to Nielsen Co. estimates. That is down 2.2 million, or 4.3%, from a year earlier. Among all viewers, Thursday-night TV usage is down 1%.

Thursday has long been a TV marquee. In the 1990s, when NBC aired "Seinfeld," "Friends," and "ER" and dubbed the night "Must-See TV," Thursdays often accounted for five of TV's 10 most-watched series.

As recently as 2007, Thursday was the third-most watched night of the week among the 18-to-49 cohort, after Sundays and Mondays. But so far this season, it trails even Tuesdays and Wednesdays in that demographic, which is the most sought-after by advertisers.

The potential cost is high. Marketers often pay higher rates for commercials on Thursday nights because weekends are big shopping times. It is advertisers' last chance to hawk movie tickets, new cars, restaurants and retail products beforehand.

ENLARGE

The drop could be the leading edge of a broader phenomenon. The number of people between 18 and 49 watching TV on any night of the week, on any channel, live or recorded, is down 2.7% so far this TV season compared with last. Some TV executives and analysts suggest that online video, tablet computers and wider use of digital-video recorders could be pulling prime-time viewers to other places and times that aren't counted in prime-time usage figures, although many also caution it is too early in the TV season to draw any broad conclusions.

"Tectonic upheavals in technology have affected consumer behavior, and it's happened so quickly," says
Alan Wurtzel,
president of research at
General Electric
Co.
's NBC Universal. Mr. Wurtzel says he believes people are still watching as much TV, just in new ways. "That's why my hair has turned gray."

Preston Beckman,
chief scheduler at Fox Broadcasting, which, like The Wall Street Journal, is owned by
News Corp.
,
says the night could turn around quickly: "All it takes are one or two new hits on any network to get people excited again."

Stalwart shows such as CBS's "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," ABC's "Grey's Anatomy" and NBC's "The Office" have seen their audiences shrink so far this year. No new show on the night has taken up all the slack; ABC canceled little-watched "My Generation" after two episodes.

"The top shows are not concentrated on Thursday nights as they used to be," says
David Poltrack,
chief research officer at
CBS
Corp.
, parent of the CBS network.

Meanwhile, a growing cast of shows on cable networks are siphoning away a bigger share of the shrinking number who are tuning in overall. "Jersey Shore," on
Viacom
Inc.
's MTV, has averaged 6.8 million viewers on Thursdays, MTV says. "Project Runway" on Lifetime and baseball playoffs on
TBS
have taken a toll, too.

The result: Thursday is the only weeknight where each of the four most-watched broadcast networks has fallen compared with this point last year. Overall, their combined audience for Thursday-night shows watched the evening they air dropped 14% from this point last fall, Nielsen says.

CBS executives, for their part, say they can help revive the night. They moved popular situation comedy "Big Bang Theory" to Thursdays at 8 p.m., a half-hour where CBS says it is doing better than last year.

"The challenge is there," Mr. Poltrack says. "We think the opportunity is there as well."

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